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House of Vallian
The Vallians of Vallenhall are an ancient, long-standing family of the most northern point of Lordaeron. Ruling the Margraviate of Vallenhall for two millennia, no threat has yet moved them from their ancestral home. Fiercely proud and culturally distinct from their once-lieges in Lordaeron, the men of Vallenhall have recently been sworn into the vassalage of the Elven House of Embershield. Effectively turning their gaze in the opposite direction, no one can truly tell what the long-quiet Vallians now intend to do. For many hundreds of years, the Vallian sigil was a golden shield resting over an upright blade, embossed with a stylized V. While this mark is still carried as the personal heraldry of the head of the household, the family's markings have been recently changed- the crimson and gold have been inverted and the V has been replaced by a two-headed falcon. Quartered above is a golden castle on a crimson field. This now stands to reflect House Vallian's fealty to the Embershields and their role watching Arcadia's border. History Founded two thousand years ago, the Vallian family has gone through many distinct periods in its history, marked by the rise or fall of noteworthy Margraves. The Chief's Era The founding days of Vallenhall were marked by the decision of Chieftain Karl the Valiant to position his tribe, the Valtheims, for the foreseeable future in a tall mountainous pass between Lordaeron and the northern Elven lands. While in this day, the concept of a noble household was yet to spring fully into being, Karl and his children were already recognized as the representatives of their tribe, and its wartime leaders. Within the local tongue of their tribe, there existed a word to describe when something came of their people; the word one would use to describe a sword this tribe had forged, or a castle they had built. This word was 'Vallian'. Electing to refer to the Chief and his descendants by this name as a badge of office, Chieftain Karl the Valiant became the founding member of the House, beginning construction of his family's ancestral seat as Lord Karl I Vallian. This era established many of the traditions which would stay with House Vallian for thousands of years to come, and which would define the culture of Vallenhall's people for just as long. The Era of Dueling Sons After the passing of Karl I, questions began to arise. Karl had not become Chief for his age; he had become Chief for he was 'the Valiant'. The first of their tribe, its most clever fighter, its bravest soul. He had been Chief because he had proven himself. While each son and daughter of Karl I was a worthy man or woman, each had earned a fair reputation and each was respected, only one could become the next head. The young Vallians understood dissent was death to a tribe. Whatever happened, there had to be no question who the Lord or Lady was. Their elected solution was simple. In the absence of challenge, the eldest child of the Lord would become the new Lord or Lady of Vallenhall. However, all other siblings reserved a one-time right of challenge. They could demand a duel of honor between them and their older sibling, with the winner receiving ownership of the family's ancestral sword Valiance, and the seat of the Lord along with it. Whether or not this duel was to the death was entirely up to its participants. Having decided upon this and agreed amicably, brother turned on brother in short order. Karl's two younger sons each dueled their elder brother, who was a remarkable warrior in his day. Both the younger were defeated, but the elder brother was left wounded and exhausted. At this point, the youngest child of Karl- his daughter, Elizia- challenged her eldest brother. Tired and pained, he was soundly defeated. In this way, Elizia became Lady Elizia Vallian, first Lady of Vallenhall. In ironic appreciation for their shortsightedness the brothers wrote of these times in jovial appreciation. With equal sarcasm and appreciation, the family would come to call this the 'Era of the Dueling Sons'. This practice of dueling to determine the most fit of potential successors also gave rise to the Margrave's traditional title of 'First of the Valiant', signifying the position of all pure blooded Vallians as 'Valiants' and the Margrave as their greatest. The Era of the Fields Over the course of a few generations, the Holdfast's construction was finished and the Vallians could at least consider themselves situated. While their position was one of great strength, it was tenuous at best, and not nearly as lucrative as it could have potentially been. While the Holdfast capitalized upon a highly powerful trade route, it was still threatened by scattered Trollish tribes which raided, pillaged, and looted far too often for a profitable trade lane to remain profitable for long. The great grandson of Karl I, Jeron Vallian, bested his elder brother in single combat and thus took the Margrave's seat. At this time, history may have turned in either direction. Had the Vallians of then simply continued to build ever inward, fortifying and ignoring the world, they would have been quite different today if they existed still at all. Jeron had no intention of allowing this possibility for his house. Leading the house's war host down from the mountains for the first time since their ascension, he set to capturing, taming, and breeding the wild horses of the hills. With this newly raised cavalry, Jeron ousted the Trolls from all fields surrounding the mountains, driving them back to the depths of the forests. Laden with reclaimed gold and food, Jeron once more decided the fate of his house. Rather than hoarding all he had taken from the Trolls, he returned stolen goods to Lordaeron and sent blades and magical relics back to the Elves north of him. Here he established the Vallians for what he intended them to be: keepers of the pass. Trustworthy, stalwart, and useful to have on hand. Whether he was a peaceful fellow at heart or he simply understood his family could not survive aggressive expansion against their southern cousins and northern Elven neighbors, Jeron made a wise decision. Expanding the influence of his family beyond their castle seat all across the mountainous passes, and down to the fields, Jeron established what would be recognized today as the borders of Vallenhall. For these efforts, the Lord of Vallenhall was also recognized by Lordaeron as the Lord-Protector of the Highland Way, which came to be the name for the Vallian-protected passes through the mountains. For bringing the fields into the fold, taming the later-famous Vallian steeds and establishing firmly his family's position in the court of Lordaeron, Jeron took his place in the family's history, initiating what would be later known as the Era of the Fields, one of the longest-standing Vallian eras. The False Son's Era While the Era of the Fields lasted for multiple prosperous generations, its closing was marked by the ascension of Karl II Vallian, later to be known as 'Brokenblade' and 'the bastard of Vallenhall'. A rarity among the usually highly restrained nobility of Vallenhall, Karl II was was a Half-Elven bastard born to Jeron's grandson. Despite the Margrave having multiple trueborn children- two girls, Mia and Lenellia- his bastard took the seat of Vallenhall by force with the help of outside political influence after his father's passing. Receiving funding from a small group of Lordaeronian noblemen who thought it improper for their northern peers to seat a woman, Karl II raised the funds to arm a small mercenary army, seizing the Holdfast in the night and killing his youngest sister while the elder, Mia, escaped capture. Karl II named himself Karl II Vallian, Margrave of Vallenhall, First of the Valiant. Furious with his dishonorable conduct, the men of Vallenhall aided Mia Vallian in her exodus and time of hiding, during which she steeled and prepared herself. Two years later, Mia Vallian returned from hiding, revealing herself in the Margrave's court to her usurper half-brother. There she publicly challenged him to a duel of honor for the seat of the Margrave. Before his assembled Knights and subjects, Karl II could hardly deny her. Accepting her challenge, Mia began and ended their duel in a stroke not even meant to contact her half-brother. She drew her blade from beneath her cloak; revealing it to be Valiance, the family's ancestral sword. Having stolen it away during her escape, she had spent these two years practicing with it. Their duel was brief and bloody. Karl II was a skilled swordsman in his own right, matching his disciplined sister parry to thrust each time. But they were quick, and each exchange of blades left Karl II's trembling just a little more, with just one more bite into its edge. Finally, on one poorly-angled deflection, Karl II's blade did not blunt aside Mia's strike. Rather it traveled directly through, snapping his sword in twain and cleaving halfways down his shoulder afterwards. Having killed him in their duel, Mia became Mia I Vallian, Margrave of Vallenhall, Lady-Protector of the Highland Way, First of the Valiant. Her first act upon the seat was to shockingly legitimize the bleeding-out Karl II. She claimed him as her trueborn brother for eternity, before addressing the court before her. Her words were clear and concise. "No Vallian man is honorable, right, and just simply for carrying our blood. We are but men and women and mortal as all of you, my Lords and Ladies. Let none now deny my brother's status as a member of this family. Let none now claim his baseborn blood has lessened him. Let none ever forget the price a weak Vallian of any blood will pay, should he set eyes on this throne while his siblings yet live." This marked the closing of the Era of the Fields, a transitioning period into a time of closer interaction with the nobility further south and their politics. While Mia I Vallian cemented the culturally distinct nature of the House, this would not be the last time outside forces meddled in its affairs. Category:Houses, Clans and Tribes Category:Aurelian Houses